Welcome to May Madness 2020! I hope everyone is doing well and had a wonderful Mother's Day. I know the stay-at-home orders are becoming more difficult as time goes on, but I hope you are staying positive and taking care of yourselves.

This month I have a couple of particularly important updates for our members. The COVID-19 Pandemic has had far-reaching consequences into every aspect of our lives, and regrettably it has now also affected our beloved annual convention. CCRA's Board of Directors has made the difficult decision to forgo our regular in-person convention format and has instead converted our convention to a virtual platform. The convention committee has already begun planning the virtual agenda, and we are very confident we can still have a tremendously successful and rewarding convention experience. Although we know that getting together, seeing our colleagues in person, classroom learning, and the social events of convention are especially rewarding, your CCRA Board of Directors felt that the safety of our members should be the deciding factor in this decision, and we also took into consideration that many of you have been out of work for the past few months and we want to be respectful of your financial hardships.

The dates of the convention remain the same - October 10th and 11th, 2020 - and we promise to deliver a dynamic convention agenda that will not disappoint. This year will be different, but we can adapt and make the best of these trying times. This isn't forever, and of course we look forward to hosting our regular convention in 2021. These are trying times for the association as well, and we hope we can count on your support. As usual, CEUs will be available for all convention classes. We hope to “see” you there!

And now for the legislative update, always the ever-moving target:

As a general legislative update, once again, COVID-19 has severely impacted this year's legislative session. Authors of bills were instructed to prioritize their issues and only move forward with emergency-type bills or COVID-19-related bills. Therefore, in good faith, the author of our CART bill, Lena Gonzalez (SB-1106) has withdrawn our bill at this time, but remains committed to working with CCRA in the future on CART licensure issues. Lena Gonzalez was also the champion of our transcript increase bill this year (SB-991), and similarly that bill has been withdrawn. With the announcement of the Governor's May Revise on Thursday, this year simply is not the time to press the legislature for an increase in transcription fees. Because of past legislative efforts by CCRA and SEIU, the legislature is sympathetic to the fact that an increase is long overdue, and CCRA will seek to keep this issue alive at the Capitol. We'd like to extend a huge "Thank You" to Lena Gonzalez for her efforts on behalf of court reporters this year and we look forward to working with her in the future.

Speaking of the May Revise, please use the following links to familiarize yourself with the portion related to the Judicial Branch (summary provided on page 98), and the Budget Memo published by the Judicial Council. We will continue to monitor the budget situation, provide updates, and advocate for sufficient funding as it relates to court reporters.

SB-900 (Hill): While we were waiting in queue on Thursday to speak to the merits of SB-900 and how all aspects of the court reporting profession are impacted by AB-5, an announcement was made at the beginning of the Labor Committee session that the bill was withdrawn from the agenda. CCRA will continue our discussions with stakeholders regarding this very important issue, as we do expect movement this legislative year on AB-5 issues relating to court reporters.

SB-1146 (Umberg): As of this week the language of this bill has been amended to remove any language seeking to codify the SoCal Stip. CCRA had conversations with Senator Umberg's office and the CAOC, and we are grateful these efforts have resulted in opening the door to further conversations on court reporter issues and a pivot in the language being sought at this time. We want to thank and acknowledge the superb grassroots efforts marshaled by all of you! Your involvement with CCRA, the Stop the Stip Movement, and PYRP does not go unnoticed! Way to go, team! We will continue to monitor this bill and give our input, as it now seeks to codify the Chief Justice's emergency orders related to whether a party has to be present with the deposition officer at depositions.

As we move into the summer months, we know that many of us have had our workflow and stream of income disrupted for what seems like an eternity. We know these are trying, unchartered, and scary times. CCRA is here for you. Please take care of yourselves the best you can. This time will pass, and we will get through this together. Stay safe and healthy.

Sandy Walden, President

California Court Reporters Association

CCRA is pleased to announce the launch of our educational series regarding Dynamex/AB5/Labor Code Section 2750.3

As part of our member education component to tackle AB5 and its related Labor Code issues, the CCRA Board of Directors has engaged attorney Karen Tynan to lead our members through a comprehensive educational series that will leave you fully informed about the new Labor Code. (Click herefor Karen Tynan's bio.)

The first piece is a two-part podcast explaining AB5 and the nuances of the new California Labor Code which implements the ABC test for employers and employees. Part 1 is a broad overview of AB5 and the ABC test. Part 2 is a more in-depth analysis of the application of the ABC test to the many types of work that CCRA members perform in California. Karen does an excellent job of outlining AB5, what it means for California stenographers, and the areas of our work we may need to examine and adjust to be compliant with the new law.

Non-members - Click here to join CCRA now so you can unlock this valuable information

and listen to our podcasts

We hope you enjoy the podcasts! Let us know what you think by e-mailing us at: [email protected]. CCRA has created this email address specifically to hear feedback from our members. Let your voice be heard on this very important issue! We will use the feedback to formulate the outline for our in-person member meetings with Karen, one to be held in Northern California and one to be held in Southern California. We will announce the dates of these forums soon!

What's next? Two webinars by Karen Tynan that dovetail with the podcasts and take a deeper dive into Labor Code Section 2750.3 will be released soon! Join CCRA now so you don't miss a beat!

Have further questions? Karen Tynan has offered a CCRA member discount so you can consult directly with her on your specific Labor Code questions. Karen can be contacted at [email protected].

Thank you,

CCRA’s Board of Directors

President's Message

February is here! As promised, here comes my monthly President's Message! CCRA had our quarterly board meeting on February 1 and 2, 2020, in Sacramento. While we are working on many things, here are the important highlights:

The AB 5 Task Force gave its first report and made recommendations to the CCRA Board of Directors. The Board has voted and directed our legislative committee to work with the Task Force to move forward with very specific exemption language, along with educating our members on how to comply in the AB 5 world as it stands now. Therefore, CCRA will be working on two paths: legislative solutions and educating our members. Look for the educational component to kick off next week with podcasts and written materials from our employment law attorney, Karen Tynan. The Task Force will continue working on the legislative piece with our lobbyist and the Board of Directors. You'll want to make sure you're a current CCRA member so you don't miss any AB 5 updates.

AB 1469 (Low) is the firm registration bill that carried over from last year's legislative session. CCRA has been advocating for many years for firm registration. We believe it is the best way to even the playing field amongst the firms currently working in California. Most importantly, this bill will give the Court Reporters Board the administrative authority to ensure CSR owned firms and non-CSR owned firms comply with California laws. While CCRA still does not endorse the RIC language currently found in AB 1469, we do support firm registration and are working with Assemblymember Low on the exact language of the bill. Stay tuned.

Anyone want a transcript rate increase? CCRA will never stop fighting this fight on behalf of all California CSRs. Although the Governor did not include money in his January budget for a transcript rate increase, we are still advocating that money be allocated in the May revise version of the Governor's budget. Senator Lena Gonzalez has agreed to author the transcript rate increase bill this year as SB 991, and we look forward to working with SEIU on this bill.

CCRA's committees are gearing up to get work done for our members and are looking for more members to be involved. If you have an interest in being a part of any CCRA committee, please email me. The important groundwork of any board is always done at the committee level. The committees report to the board on what areas of our profession need attention and then make recommendations to the Board of Directors. We appreciate any time you have to give, and you can choose your level of involvement. No hard sell here, but we do invite you to participate in committee work. Please see the "Membership" tab on our website, then click on "Volunteer Opportunities" to see a list of our committees.

If you haven't already heard, CCRA’s A to Z programs are doing amazing! We currently have two programs in full swing - Sacramento and Downey - and we are eagerly looking forward to the next two programs in San Mateo and San Diego. We are asking our members to help fund these programs and our profession by donating to our A to Z program fund. Every bit helps. Each one of these programs leads to new court reporting students that we will eventually welcome as California CSRs. We can do great things, but we need your help.

We hope you have followed us on social media this week as we have celebrated Court Reporting and Captioning Week 2020. It is so inspiring to see the day-to-day details of each facet of our profession and the difference an accurate record can make in people's lives. Let's continue celebrating steno all year long! Whether you are still a student working toward your CSR, or a freelancer, official, CART captioner, or broadcast captioner, CCRA celebrates you and we are here for you! Go steno!

Dear CCRA Members, I'd like to personally thank everyone who donated to CCRA’s A to Z program during Court Reporting and Captioning Week 2020! Through your generous donations, we have raised $1,400 that will be used exclusively to fund our A to Z programs in California. Your dollars will directly contribute to getting more students into court reporting school and helping them become working stenographers in California, and for that you should be proud! We are incredibly grateful for your support!

Part of my presidential mission is to hold 25 A to Z programs this year, and that's why I set our A to Z fundraising goal at $3,000. Please help us reach this goal. While CCRA has amazing volunteers that teach our programs and awesome sponsors that provide food and locations, real dollars are still needed to print the lesson materials, advertise for the programs, tune up those steno machines, and make sure every program meets CCRA's standard of excellency!

The A to Z program provides a FREE six-week program to teach each participant the steno alphabet, familiarize them with our machine, and showcase exactly what a career in stenography can offer. We ARE making a difference. We ARE increasing steno enrollment statewide. No matter the amount, every dollar helps! Please donate today!